12-year-old girl dies 4 days after showing symptoms of flu

A familiar symptom doesn’t always yield a familiar illness; sometimes it can be sign of something more insidious

On January 12, Washington state girl Piper Lowry complained that she wasn’t feeling well. She had a high fever, and her symptoms were similar to the common flu. She died three days later, on January 16.

Piper’s mom Pegy said that Piper vomited blood, and as her daughter’s condition worsened the high fever persisted. At the emergency room where Piper collapsed in her mother’s arms.

“Her legs were spaghetti noodles,” said Pegy to reporters. “It just went that way and she said, ‘Oh momma’ and she collapsed in my arms.”

Pegy described the illness as a “freight train,” forcing her to rush her daughter to the doctors three times.

Despite the doctors’ attempts to save the girl’s life, they weren’t able to save her.

Not an Ordinary Flu

Official reports claim that Piper succumbed from the deadly H1N1 virus, which had caused renal failure after attacking her kidneys.

“We want people to remember her smile, her smile and the freckles all over her face,” Pegy said. “You never think they're going to die from something like this. She was just our everything. She is still our everything.”

“Our hearts go out to the families of these individuals,” Dr. Susan Turner, from the county health district, said. “These tragedies remind us that influenza can be a very serious illness, especially in young children. Having your children and yourselves vaccinated is the best way you can protect your children from the flu.”

Flu season in the Philippines (July to December) won’t be upon us for at least a couple more months, but we also shouldn’t ignore the seemingly harmless symptoms our kids are exhibiting.

Although most healthy children and adults recover from the flu with minimum medication, there are a few people who are at a higher risk of developing complications. These are adults over the age of 65, babies and young children, pregnant mothers, sick people and those with compromised immune systems such as HIV, asthma and cancer patients.

If you have a baby and suspect he has the flu, it is best to show him to the pediatrician as soon as possible. The same goes for others in the higher-risk category.

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